Date of Award
9-4-1990
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
First Advisor
Sandra M. Donaldson
Abstract
This dissertation examines the relationship between eros and thanatos in four novels, Sons and Lovers and Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence and The Collector and Daniel Martin by John Fowles. Sons and Lovers and The Collector reflect their authors' early awareness of certain thanatotic forces in modern life. Lawrence criticizes the negative influence of mechanization on human beings whereas Fowles opposes lack of freedom.The two writers' awareness of these negative forces in the early novels is followed in Lady Chatterley's Lover and in Daniel Martin by presentations of salvational plans which liberate or heal the novels' protagonists. In Lady Chatterley's Lover the protagonists take the way of cosmic love to reach the sacred domain of eros, whereas in Daniel Martin the protagonists take the way of freedom to reach the same destination. Cosmic love and freedom are associated in the two novels with nature and with the feminine principle.The dissertation's first part reviews how the relationship is treated in some earlier studies and also presents the two novelists' similar views of the power of love.The body of the thesis compares the two writers' treatments of the relationship, first in the earlier two novels, then in the later ones. Two appendices on the relationship between gender, nature, and power are annexed to the thesis.The dissertation leads to the conclusion that Lawrence and Fowles see similar negative aspects in modern life and find salvation from these aspects in similar approaches toward life. They see return to nature's laws of harmony, unification, and freedom as the redemptive way of eros.The dissertation presents advance from thanatos to eros in the two writers' systems as progression toward self integration, through cosmic love in Lawrence's system and through self discovery and freedom in Fowles's. The two writers differ in specifics, resemble in essence, and match in pattern.
Recommended Citation
Nefily, Salah Ed-din A., "Eros and thanatos in D. H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers" and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and in John Fowles's "The Collector" and "Daniel Martin"." (1990). Theses and Dissertations. 7697.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/7697